was reasonable because laptops still
had DB9s themselves. It does appear
that something like the FTDI adapter
might be somewhat more expensive
for a small producer, and this might
have wreaked havoc on the group’s
price point. The Mark III is available
for only $92, and we can understand
how some modifications might take
the kit out of the preferred double
digit territory. That irony, however, is
also a victory for the Mark III.

The moral of this story is that
good robotics kits — to stay relevant in
a world that upgrades at the speed of
Moore’s Law — need to evolve and
adapt. One way to do that is to
demonstrate that leaving behind the
vestiges of old and increasingly
outmoded technology need not be an
expensive, difficult, or unsightly affair.

Making Its Mark

Even though the Mark III was
originally developed years ago, and
even though we had been slowly
making modifications to the kit since
2007, the tenacious robot has
remained an exciting platform and a
worthy opponent even for the newest
kits. We are pleased to report that
some of those newest kits that we’ve
worked on recently (like the Robot
Shop Rover and the upcoming USB
I/O Explorer from Digilent) actually
come with USB ports. For all of those
folks with beloved kits that they have
worked on over the years or new kits
that inexplicably retain an RS-232
port, the process of upgrading your
robot to modern-day USB technology
is a surprisingly affordable and
painless process. With one simple
adapter from the appropriately named
Future Technology Devices
International (FTDI), you too can bring
your robot into the future and keep
on tinkering.

$12, and will allow for the addition of
servos, switches, and sensors. With
our new USB adapter humbly taking
up only the real estate of its DB9
predecessor, attaching the sensor
board to the top of the Mark III could
be done without incident.

The little robot that could is ready
for its next evolution, and it is sure to
show up again as an able competitor
with some of our future projects. SV